Wade Cartwright

Name: Wade Cartwright

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Grade: 11

School: Cochise High School

Hobbies and Interests: Writing, webcomics, videogames (especially strategic, simulation and management games), and the furry fandom.

Appearance: Wade is a pale individual, measured standing at 5'11 and weighing 155 pounds. His build is slim, but a slight hunch and an even slighter paunch somewhat mar his appearance. His jet black hair is naturally messy and curly, but on the day of the abduction, he has it trimmed to a very low cut which conforms to the dimensions of his head.

He has a diamond-jawed appearance and his lower face is defined by a very light and patchy beard. His teeth have a fair, if somewhat eroded appearance. They vary between yellow and various states of off-whiteness. His eyes are quite thin, with dark brown irises that have an exceptionally dark hue; his forehead isn't particularly prominent and he has a snub nose.

At the time of the abduction, he was wearing a rare 'Leona Fanboy' t-shirt, with a synthetic black-blue jacket, and some partially-damaged jeans along with brown sneakers.

Biography: In February of 1998, Wade was born to Mira and Alfred Cartwright, a pair of recently-wed Miami natives. Mira had previous experience as a hematology technician and Alfred was a civil engineer; both had found stable work in Florida, but the especially demanding nature of their occupations meant that they couldn't fit in normal school hours around their schedules. In addition, he showed strong signs of mental development, and they reasoned that normal schools would be unable to keep up with the accelerated pace of his learning.

Homeschooling was the alternative, providing more flexible teaching timetables but considerably more challenging work. Wade took well to this from the start, rapidly proving to excel in intellectual and creative matters. By the age of three, he understood how to read and had some ability to use computers thanks to his parents' use of educational software.

His parents frequently took him to homeschool association meetings and camping trips in their spare time in order to permit him to socialize, which he did so to some extent, although his forcefully imaginative attitude often got in the way or left him bored. Mira and Alfred slowly managed to more closely synchronize their work to make things easier, and while it still did not completely ease their strain, it meaningfully reduced it.

Although he was exposed to computers from an early age, Wade did not hold much interest for them until, in 2004, his parents acquired a steady Internet connection. He immediately discovered videogaming and the Internet at large. He rapidly found that he didn't care much for frustrating shooters, puzzles were boring, RPGs were tedious and required too much time investment of him.

Strategy games were his sweet spot: when he received Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri from Mira as a reward, he immediately took to it, spending practically all of his allotted videogame time on it. He greatly enjoyed the feel of coordinating groups and making large-scale decisions in-game, and in spite of his lack of ability he still invested significant parts of his offtime on them.

In mid-2005, the first SOTF incident occurred. Wade's parents were shocked by the act itself, but they were not truly perturbed as Wade was not enrolled in any sort of formalized education and had a long way to go before high school. At this time, he was beginning to really explore Internet culture and encountered one subculture that caught his attention: furry fandom.

He discovered its webcomics and forum sites, and although he had no real success in his attempts to become involved in it at this early time, it nevertheless became a major part of his aesthetic preference and he enjoyed the atmosphere and feel its works had, driving him to start writing creatively. He came to love writing in particular: putting his imagination out on paper and telling stories for others was satisfying for him. His attention was also drawn by visual illustrations, which presented, often in very rich detail, the subjects of that imagination.

Wade also discovered his newfound passion for reading scientific and cultural articles on the Web, leading him to consume large amounts of information from a wide variety of sources, both relevant and irrelevant. His parents often interceded for schoolwork, however, driving a long-lasting wedge between them, especially as the subjects became increasingly complex and difficult. Nevertheless, his intelligence showed itself and he went through the material at a very fast rate.

In 2008, the Great Recession and Version 4 of SOTF occurred. Mira's hospital underwent significant budget cuts and Alfred's construction work had dried up. The pair agreed to settle in Kingman, Arizona, where there was an opening available at the Regional Medical Center. Wade was slightly enticed by the prospect of this change in scenery, as the long initial months of the Recession were a rocky period. Version 4 was a serious emotional blow to Wade's parents, as he was getting close to high school age.

It was January of 2009 when the move was enacted. Mira was finally earning an income once again at the RMC and Alfred found work with a local construction office. By 2010, the family's financial prospects had finally reached a new balance, but homeschooling Wade was steadily becoming more impractical as their schedules again became restrictive and subjects increased steadily in complexity. Around this period, Wade also gained his taste for anime and eurobeat tracks, watching series such as Sword Art Online and listening to artists like Dave Rodgers.

Despite his laziness, Wade had managed to keep up on his schoolwork so far and had managed to reach about the education level required of a high school freshman. In mid-2012, at the same time that Version 5 took place, he finally enrolled in Cochise High School and entered the formal schooling world. It was surprisingly easy for him to get into the routine of school life. He had an active Steam account, with a rapidly-growing library, and had registered on FurAffinity and SoFurry, where he followed various artists and started posting some of his short stories. It brought him a deep sense of satisfaction to fulfill his aesthetic values, and began posting his writing to those sites at a brisk pace.

Although he possessed a significant aptitude for academic work, he rapidly developed a slacker nature that stymied him from doing well in courses that weren't immediately intuitive to him: particularly, things like math and chemistry, which required a combination of attention and deep memorization in their material as opposed to reading comprehension, simple memorization and intuition, which is what other courses largely involved. As a result of this, he initially scored D's, F's and C's in his starting math and solid As in courses like History, Geography and Biology. This alarmed his parents, who placed him in remedial courses. There, he managed to salvage his grades, but his performance elsewhere dropped slightly.

As the semesters went on, he became more introspective and self-aware. After some soul-searching, he began to think he should become a furry animator, this coming primarily due to his aesthetic preference. Animation appealed to his instinct by adding even greater detail, breadth, and depth to its subjects. But he also sometimes felt that he should become a biomedical researcher; biology and genetics were fields that both piqued his interest, and his same creative nature also drove him to want to be involved in scientific progress and innovation.

Socially, Wade is actually fairly able to connect with others, but his inability to make small talk outside of his own interests causes him to come across as somewhat awkward. A lot of his interaction takes place on the Internet, on discussion sites and chatrooms. He's starting to realize he'll have to choose between the two paths he's sketched out in the near future, and his emotional world is characterized by internal moodswings from deep depression from poor school performance to amazed by his own creativity to being frustrated by his lack of actual ability, progress, and especially his procrastination issues.

Advantages: A great lateral thinker, Wade has a remarkable capacity to make connections others may have missed or overlooked. His mind is also fast, picking up on such connections almost immediately. Both of these are strong boons in a tense tactical environment like that of the island. In addition, he has a significant language capacity and intuition for how people think and feel, which is a great skill if he can establish interaction.

Disadvantages: Wade can be surprisingly absentminded at times, often floating off onto his own little world. Such distractions could allow someone to easily catch him off-guard. He has no real physical strength, either; although he is not overweight, he doesn't put much effort into exercise, has some posture problems, and lacks real endurance. Moreover, he's very awkward in light, inductive talk and doesn't hold much confidence in approaching others. The former can easily become a serious obstacle in combat and the latter is a large initial roadblock socially, preventing him from being able to establish interactions with others easily.

Designated Number: Male student No. 038

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Designated Weapon: Adrenaline & needle

Conclusion: Lateral thinking won't save you if you're too spaced out to notice the guy with the gun, and the adrenaline's only going to help so much with his limited physical skills. Maybe he can use that furry knowledge and try to play possum for a while? Otherwise, this kid's a goner. - Trent Camden

'The above biography is as written by shotgunkid. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: shotgunkid

Kills: None

Killed By: Matthew Moradi

Collected Weapons: Adrenaline & needle (assigned weapon)

Allies: Travis Lynch, Cass Prince, Benjamin Lichter

Enemies: Matthew Moradi

Mid-game Evaluation: Wade woke up, despairing, and investigated his bag to find his weapon. He was found by William McKinley. Wade was compliant as Will investigated his worth as a possible ally, but Will and Rea Adams both elected to leave Wade be. He reflected on his actions to follow and left the doctor's offices, mostly intent on avoiding other kids if he could. He climbed the bell tower, consciously avoiding the corpse of Barry Banks while he did so, and struggled to master his all consuming fear and get some sleep. He woke in time to hear announcements. He tried to leave, but had to burst out running through the door, straight past Melanie Beckett and Aiden Slattery.

He finally calmed down from his panic and decided he could peruse an alliance. He only felt he'd be safe in low traffic areas, which led him to the chapel grounds. The church itself had at that point been sealed by Alice Baker, but he was led to the nearby garden by the stench of Jane Madison's dead body. Here he found a familiar face in Irene Djezari, along with the unfamiliar Cass Prince and Travis Lynch, and he decided to approach Irene. The others also greeted him but he focused on Irene, bluntly trying to form an alliance with her. Irene was a bit put off, but Cass and Trav reached a compromise by proposing a group of four, and Wade went along with them for the time being.

They took shelter in the regular wards. Wade took the lead in trying to establish a clear plan. As the discussion progressed Wade wasn't satisfied with Trav, Irene, and Cass' attempts, as he believed they were approaching the problem too abstractly. His attempts at a more cold and practical approach drew Cass' vocal ire, the fight was blunted by Trav trying to play diplomacy. Wade only dully apologized, still distracted by his musings on their options for survival. He tried, at a silent and awkward distance, to inspect Cass' collar for clues, but he quickly stopped. The dissolving mood in the room left Trav and Cass to take a walk, Wade elected to silently follow.

Wade wasn't especially talkative, but at some point as they wandered the slopes on their way to Travis' goal of the ocean, he decided to act as a more realistic check on the other's fanciful ambitions. They pointed out all they wanted was to experience the ocean but Wade continued to find arguments, even ones as petty as the awkwardness of possibly having to remove clothes to get into the water. However both of them remained stalwart, and Wade had nothing further to say, he went along with their non-arguments, even as he continued to muse over the negative possibilities.

The two abandoned Wade at the cove after finding the body of Toby Andreasson, their intent was to hunt down her killer and avenge her. Wade stayed put, sleeping uneasily on the beach. In the morning of Day 5 he learned Irene had died, his only response was paranoia that she'd somehow compromised his own position while dying. Wade calmed himself, and cautiously approached a nearby duo, Rene Wolfe and Blair Moore. They sarcastically greeted him with hyperbole, he responded in kind by playing up his own reaction to exaggerated levels. That won their amusement and respect, and gave Wade the opening to try and gain entry into their group by citing how he'd been left behind by his last group. They seemed ready to accept, but suddenly a complicating factor in the form of Kaitlyn Greene appeared, firing warning shots with her gun to scare them off. Wade, unfortunately, lost the girls as he fled.

He went to the asylum, where he'd spend Day 6 wandering about until he settled on the rooftop. He used the solitary time to think carefully about the days to come, about the nature of the island's killers and how it could be applied to his advantage or at least mitigated to minimize variables and protect himself. He needed a group or he needed weapons, but he also acknowledged the dangers present in acquiring either.

He woke with the intent to pursue action and pro-activity, moving quickly so he could seek shelter and supplies elsewhere, in the utilities warehouse. He found corpses, some perhaps useful comfort supplies like soap and towels, and then he was found by Benjamin Lichter before he would hide himself in the darkness. Wade ambushed him through one of the warehouse shelves, ready to fight, but stood down when he saw who it was and tried to sue for peace. Wade was then prepared to share his food and he and Ben negotiated that for a while, they exchanged supplies and some conversation, they hid in the warehouse for the evening while Wade contemplated what was to come.

In the early hours of Day 8 Wade was investigating the area outside the warehouse for threats, but he missed a few blindspots, one of which was a bush Matthew Moradi had hidden in and attacked from. Matt missed his initial swing with his pipe but still debilitated Wade with a crushing blow to the shoulder, Wade had no time for his weapon and cursed himself for being caught flat footed, he was shoved to the ground and took another blow to the chest. He dodged the next with a desperate maneuver off the ground and tried to rush in one last time, landing a punch, but it was futile. Matt hit back with blow after blow, Wade could no longer fight back, in his final moments he was consciously aware of what he had been all along, prey waiting to be hunted down. A final blow to the skull finished him.

Post-Game Evaluation: Pipe down, possum boy. - Josie Knight

Memorable Quotes: "I-I could care less if they did it out of jealousy or hatred or any-any other kind of passion. They all pose the same danger. And we're not thinking about how to protect and defend against that danger, which is all that truly matters here. Killers will kill. And if we die, we die. It's irrelevant whether or n-not we know about their mistakes and motivations and whatnot." -- His response to Cass and Irene musing on why the killers are killing.

"I just.. separated from a group. It's psychologically reassuring to be with others. We're social creatures, you know?" -- Wade's attempt to get Rene and Blair to allow him to travel with them.

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Wade, in chronological order.

V6 Pregame:
 * Come, and take choice of all my library...

V6:
 * Waking up in a strange place isn't so unusual to some...
 * Detection and Identification
 * Thursday's Child
 * They Stumbled Into Faith and Thought
 * No One Gets Left Behind
 * Remember Everything
 * Dysthemia Morte
 * No More Predation. (Please.)
 * Z3 ROADSTER FOR SALE
 * Prey Empathy

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Wade Cartwright. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''